Tony Blair: I could cash in a lot more than I do

"The former British leader strongly denied claims that he had used his role as a peace envoy in the Middle East to win private business contracts.

"Mr Blair used a wide-ranging interview to declare he had been upset by allegations that he had profited from mobile telephone and gas deals in the Palestinian territories, and that he had lobbied Colonel Gaddafi's Libyan government on behalf of the merchant bank JP Morgan, because they were "untrue" and "absurd."

"His comments were made amid growing controversy surrounding his 'billionaire lifestyle' and alleged pro-Israel bias in his role as envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East - in which he mediates on behalf of the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations."